How to Smoke Peppers – Make Delicious Smoked Peppers Easily

Peppers are such a fantastic way to brighten almost any dish. The colors, and the flavors elevate each plate they are added to.

We’ve enjoyed dicing them, sautéing them, and stuffing them with cheese and then grilling them wrapped in bacon. Once the season for harvesting them is gone, you have to use them quickly before they go bad or get eaten.

Our family has a better way to make peppers last all year long and make them even more delicious without losing their healthy nutrients. We like to smoke them on our electric smoker.

So, in this article, I am going to show you how to smoke peppers in your preferred smoker.

Also, by using this smoking technique, you can make them last all year and enjoy whenever you want.

​How to Smoke Peppers

​Each spring, our small lovely garden begins with each family member picking their favorite seedlings and then taking care for them to raise enough to be harvested through the late summer.

I personally prefer to combine smoked peppers with smoked or grilled sliced brisket. Everytime I am smoking a brisket on my backyard, I grab some peppers from my small garden and throw them into the smoker.

I have never failed to impressed my guests with the combination of a delicious and juicy brisket with the taste of fresh peppers and other vegetables.

But, if you are wondering what's my secret, then I can guarantee ​you that the smoking process is the key to make a perfect smoked meal.

We all know that vegetables in general are very delicate and eveytime you try to grill or smoke them, they can be quickly burned or taste bad if you don't follow the steps carefully.​

That's why I am going to show you step-by-step how I make smoked vegetables.

​What You Need to Smoke Peppers

We always plant jalapenos, serrano’s, bell, chili and habaneros, just to keep it interesting and diversify the taste.

I have personally tried only the upper-mentioned kind of peppers but if you are planning to grill some other kind, then our friends from ChefsPencil have a complete guide to cook capsicum peppers in three different cooking methods.

As for our smoking guide, here is a complete list of what you’ll need to get started.

Required Items:

Peppers, your choice

Smoker, with wood or Electric Smoker

Cutting board, tray, and knife

Aluminum foil

Dehydrator or oven

After you make sure that you have all the required items, you have to prepare them.

Preparing Peppers for Smoking​

The first thing to do to prepare your peppers for smoking is to clean them by placing under running water.

After you make sure that they are clean of dirt, you can remove the seeds or if you like, you can keep them. The seeds and the veins inside will add to the overall heat. If you want to reduce the scoville scale temperature then cut these out. However, this will not increase how long it takes to smoke them.

Quick Kitchen Tip: Use gloves when preparing your peppers. The skin of some peppers have an oil on them that gets on your fingers and transfers onto anything you touch. The hotter the reputation of the pepper, the hotter the oil on the skin is.

Smoking Your Peppers

After you prepared your vegetables, now it is time to start smoking them.

If you are using an electric smoker, just turn it on and set the temperature at about 200° and wait until it reaches the temperature.

If you don't have an electric smoker, you need to start your fire, add your wood, and bring the temperature of your offset smoker to no lower than 200°, and no higher than 225°.

After the smoker has reached the recommended temperature, lay out some aluminum foil on the cooking surface, away from the fire, and carefully lay down your peppers on them.

Image Credit: My Fare Foodie

Note: If you want a bolder taste on your vegetables, use a mesquite or hickory wood. For lighter taste, pecan or a fruit wood like peach might be better to enhance the flavor.

After you start smoking, keep checking the temperature frequently to maintain it at the recommended levels.

After 2-3 hours of maintaining the recommended temperature, your peppers should be soft, not to wrinkled, and ready to come off.

Two Ways to Serve Smoked Peppers

I prefer serving the smoked peppers in one of two ways:

The first way to serve them is to take and sear their skin off over a fire. Brush the skin keeping a little sear on the peppers and after you remove their skin, slice them into strips, and pack in garlic infused olive oil. You can decide to jar them for later and eat them on sandwiches, pizza or smoked meat.

The second way to serve them is to take them to a dehydrator or your oven. Set the temperature between 140° to 150° and dehydrate for 12-14 hours. After you take them off the oven or the dehydrator, let them cool for a while and then grind coarsely, or fine and sprinkle on your favorite dishes.

Also, it is recommended to store smoked peppers in plastic bags or jars and keep in a ambient dark place like your pantry. You can find reusable containers at restaurant supply stores or you can even use a mason jar.

Final Thoughts

Smoking vegetables in general should be an easy and enjoyable experience but it can be quickly transformed into an issue if you don't know how to properly do it.

Two main things to have in mind when smoking vegetables are the the recommended temperatures and the amount of time needed to smoke them.

The temperature should be about 200° to 225° and make sure to maintain it for about 2-3 hours. That's also the time needed for peppers to get properly smoked even though it is based on your preferences.

That's a quick and effective guide on how to smoke peppers.​

If you liked it, take a moment and share it with your friends or leave your comment down below.

Enjoy!​

About Kendrick

Just a passionate man about cooking, living in Kansas who loves to share his knowledge about cooking and grilling with everyone.

Hello Lauren,
I haven’t actually tried to smoke shishito peppers before. I usually smoke chili, jalapeno or habanero but I would love to try some smoked shishito peppers. Maybe I will smoke some next time 😉

Hello. My husband is sensitive to hot peppers. My son and I love the flavor added to meals by all kinds of peppers. We have a new electric smoker and I would love to try some peppers that hopefully we all would enjoy. Pablano, jalapeño, and bell peppers are most often available at out local grocery. Do you know if jalapeño peppers or pablano are too hot for most people? Does smoking them, filling with cheese and or wrapping with bacon calm down the “heat” at all for these or other peppers. Thank you!

Hello Kimberly,
Based on my experience and what I have heard, cooking hot peppers does reduce their spiciness level. Usually the heat is spread evenly in the dish and as a result, the hotness is reduced.
Also, another thing you can do to reduce the heat is to clean and remove the seeds inside the peppers and if you want to reduce it even further, you can also remove the membrane. This will reduce the heat but not eliminate it completely.
If you follow the upper mentioned tips and cook in the smoker filled with cheese and wrapping with bacon, I think you shouldn’t have any problem.
Enjoy and thanks for visiting,
Cheers, Kendrick 🙂